8 weeks pregnant still no midwife appointment!

[Smurftastic]

I'm 8 weeks pregnant tomorrow. It's my second pregnancy. I called my GP to book midwife appointment two weeks ago- it was an automated message telling me to leave my details and that I'll be contacted. After a week of nobody contacting me I left second message. Still nothing! Should I be getting worried?
I know I don't have any blood disease that's being tested for between 8-10 weeks pregnant, but surely my blood pressure and bloods should still be taken? Should I give it another week or try to chase up with the GP?

I would chase it up with your local hospital/maternity unit.

Seems quite early even without considering covid.

My experience has always been that they’ll see you around week 11 at the earliest.

Yes chase it. Ideally you should be seen before you're ten weeks.

Search your trusts midwifery team and there will be a number to contact them directly, they will be able to tell you when to expect contact or may even just book you in.

Some do fairly short notice appointments so it's fairly normal to not have an appointment yet as it's between 8-12 weeks for the booking then 8-14 weeks for the dating scan. You have generally fewer appointments for a second baby anyway, with current restrictions i believe at least some are now done by phone call if there are no concerns.

I said on the phone before my booking appointment I didn't want screening. She said in that there's no need to have the booking in call until after your 12 week scan. So I had my first midwife appointment at 13 weeks. Mostly over the phone then a quick face to face for necessary tests. What do you want the appointment now for?

*In that case

I'd expect to at least have a date in the diary at this stage.

You should have been contacted by now, I'd ring them again. Things are slower atm but I received my booking apps within 2 weeks.

My hospital is now paperless. I got my selection scan letter the same day as my booking app and my consultant letter the next day. 3 week wait for scan, if you want the NTT they need to get you in before 14wk.

Selection should be electronic

In covid I had my booking appointment over the phone at 11 weeks and they took bloods/did blood pressure checks at the 12 scan.

I didn’t have anything until booking in at 10 weeks. I think that’s standard now.

I'm wondering if it's because it's my second pregnancy. The message said the booking appointment has to happen between 8-10 weeks. I'm not really sure what else they do at the booking appointment other than check blood group, BMI and blood pressure? I did suffer from low blood pressure my first pregnancy but only in third trimester. I'm normal weight but I don't want to miss any important tests they might be doing? I really struggle to find another contact numbers but will have a good search.

Nothing to worry about but you should call to follow up. You'll need your pregnancy notes for your 12 week scan and they only do those after the booking appointment. As someone else said you can probably contact your community midwife team directly (although they also don't seem to answer the phone or respond to messages, at least where I live)!

One of my COVID booking appts was on the phone this time but they still sent me to the hospital to get bloods done and popped my notes through the letterbox. Others have said they had their blood taken at 12 week scan - it seems to differ by area.

Appreciate you may not be concerned about any of the diseases they test for and so timing may be less important but still worth getting someone to check for iron levels, UTIs and blood pressure which are probably fine but can change over time.

Also just good to be in the system - makes all the subsequent appts easier.

Call your hospital/ maternity service directly - you can self refer to them.

They will probably do your booking appointment over the phone and then do bloods when you go for your scan.

You don’t need your GP to refer you to them, and it sounds like your message may have been missed by the GP practice.

I just don't even know if they got my messages, I got no confirmation of any type!

I'm on pregnancy #10, baby #6 all being well. The fact that it's not your 1st doesn't mean later booking. It seems to be more your area that is the problem.

I had my booking in 2 parts. I had bloods, weight etc done at 8+4 and history via phone at 9+3. My scan is booked in for 12+3. Consultant for the following month.

If interested my booking notes say that they checked for:

• haemoglobin
• blood group
• antibodies
• sickle cell
• thalassaemia
• hep B
• Syphilis
• HIV

It's the sickle cell and thalassaemia tests that they say should be done before 10 weeks which seems to guide the timing of the appt and bloods being taken. If you were a carrier you'd know from previous PG.

As you say they also do blood pressure and urine sample.

I didn't have any notes for my 12 week scan, as I hadn't spoken to a midwife. It wasn't a problem. There really is no rush unless you want the screening tests that need to be done before 12 weeks.

I know I don't have any blood disease, I do want to make sure to have my 12 week scan booked and be able to do the test for Down's/Edwards/Patau. I'm just worried I'm not even in the system for this and I'll miss the deadline! I can't really find any other numbers to call either, the only one is the one with automated message! It's all stressing me out a bit ...

I had to self refer to my local maternity unit so it might be worth contacting them?

Tried to call this number again and it seems it is sometimes 'manned' as it said to call again later if I want to talk to someone. Thing is I must have called it about 20+ times without anyone ever answering!

My local hospital lets you self-refer for 12wk scan by email. Might be worth having a look at the hospital website? You could also call reception at the EPU (either call directly or via hospital switchboard) - they may be able to book you in or give you a number for the midwife team.

There isn't a problem not having the appointment but if it's worrying you it's worth getting it sorted.

They did seem to be getting more lax even before covid. I would chase as you at least need to know your 12 week scan is booked in. However saying that, they can always squeeze people in I find as it wasnt unheard of having unplanned scans when I went in to see my consultant

Chase through your gp? My scan and the booking appointment were booked separately and automatically. One didn’t lead to the other, the letters came from the central booking system.

The only number I found is for women over 25 weeks pregnant, so they won't probably even want to talk to me! My local hospital had lots of services removed and I'm struggling to find any direct numbers, I'll continue to search whilst calling the automated number- I heard a few signals this time before the message kicked in so maybe there's hope? My booking appointment 3 years ago was at just about 8 weeks and I knew the date over a week before it!